Friday, 14 March 2014

Bridgestone Expecting Rapid Qatar Race Pace 2014

At the final gathering of the pre-season, it was NGM Forward
Racing’s Aleix Espargaro who topped the timesheets to conclude an impressive
testing period on the Forward Yamaha. However, Bridgestone was pleased with the
pace overall.

“The final pre-season test at Qatar 2014 was very productive,”
explains Masao Azuma, Chief Engineer for the Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre
Development Department. “Both Bridgestone and the teams were able to collect a
lot of data which will serve us well for the opening race of the season in a
couple of weeks’ time.

“It was encouraging to see how quick the pace was during
this test, both over a single lap and during the race simulations, as this
track offers comparatively little grip compared to other venues on the
calendar. The best lap time from this test was 0.6 seconds faster than the best
race time from 2013 and many riders also had good results in their race
simulations as well, so overall I am pleased that our 2014-spec tyres worked well
here.

“I would like to thank all the teams and riders for their
efforts over the two months of pre-season testing; I feel we are very well
prepared for the first race of the season.”

This year’s Grand Prix in Qatar 2014 will be the 11th at the
desert-based venue, which has featured on the calendar since 2004. It has
hosted the season-opener since 2007, which in-turn has taken place under
floodlights since 2008.